THE HOLY CITY IS A THE HUMAN HOLY CELL

HOLY CITY AND HUMAN CITY

The angel promises to show John the bride, the wife of the Lamb (v. 9), but what then appears is a city, not a woman (v. 10). From this point on, the bridal imagery is dropped, to surface again only in 22:17. The image of the city as a woman is not carried through consistently, as it was in chapters 17 and 18. The angel shows John the holy city (vv. 9-14) and then measures it (vv. 15-21). The mountain great and high (v. 10) to which John is taken in the Spirit (that is, in his vision) is more than a vantage point from which to view the holy city. It is Mount Zion itself (14:1), on which the city stands, or rather "lands" in its descent from the sky.